


Imagine: Overprotective Cal

by ReclessAbandon



Category: Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)
Genre: Cantina, F/M, Fluff, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Overprotective, Tatooine, cantina brawl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23279383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReclessAbandon/pseuds/ReclessAbandon
Relationships: Cal Kestis/Reader
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

The Mantis cruises steadily through the dark vacuum of space, Greez had no particular course in mind but as long as it’s anywhere that isn’t interested in severing one of his arms and make a kebab out of it—it’s fine, until one of the indicators in the main control panel in the cockpit started to beep erratically while blinking red on its screen.

“That is _not_ a good sign,” Greez groaned.

“Are we losing power?” Cal exclaimed.

“The external engine is heating up after that goose chase with the pirates in the Totera Maze! They shot us, remember?”

“Greez, what is the nearest system in our proximity?” Cere asked demandingly.

“Tatoo system, my nearest planet is Tatooine—nothing special about it but I guess we’ve got no choice!”

Greez floored it as Cere rushed to send a transmission to any available outpost on the planet—nothing. Once the ship entered the atmosphere, Greez flicked all the switches and pressed all the buttons that could help soften the Mantis’s landing.

“Come on, baby, pull through!” Greez shouted as he struggled to pull up the main steering lever as the ship darts down to land.

“Everybody brace yourselves!” Cere warned.

The ship plummeted down to the planet and practically tore the surface as the Mantis scraped the landing. Greez was able to prep the landing cycle in time but the velocity of the landing was still too great for the ship to make a soft landing. Luckily, it’s nothing but a scratch on the old girl—saves you from the trouble of Greez’s ceaseless ranting and directionless blaming that may cost you five minutes or so.

“Happy landing, huh?” Cal jabbed.

“I’ve seen worse,” Cere added.

All of you regain your composure after that intense landing, checking yourselves for bruises or cuts—no injuries so far. Cal jumped out of his shotgun seat and ran up to you at the lounge where you braced together with Merrin. He thoroughly checks on you for any bruises or cuts, you insisted you’re fine, and joined everyone outside to check the damage.

The Mantis hasn’t much damage on the outside, but if you want to get farther into the galaxy, the ship is going to need some repairs.

“We can’t simply tow this to the nearest mechanic bay, we’re probably at the boundary of the town,” you point out.

True, you were at the boundary. The only way getting to the town proper is by walking, before heading there, all of you took your time in preparing for the stuff that you’ll be needing when dealing and haggling. Earlier before Cere let you go pack your things, she mentioned something at the very end with great importance, she told you to bring “lots” of stuff.

“When Cere said ‘lots,’ I assumed she meant _a lot_ ,” your tongue curled between your teeth when you said the last two words for emphasis.

“That’s the only thing that makes these dealers talk,” Cal replied, at par with your playful sarcasm.

“Don’t I know it,” you scoffed back, remembering the scum and villainy you had to endure before you became a part of the crew.

He looked around the quarters and noticed that he’s missing a poncho. It was one of his favorite ones and you have “borrowed” it.

“Looking for something?” you teased, leaning over the doorway to the quarters.

He sighed, “So, that’s where my favorite poncho went,”

You made a face, a playful yet enticing one at that, an expression that screams, “Come and get it” as you flicked both of your eyebrows up as response to Cal.

All of a sudden, Cal Force-pulls you close to him, holds you down with his arms locked around you tight, and tickles you into submission.

It was a battle of “Gimme!” and “No!” in between laughter, at the same time, he pokes you in all of your weak spots. For every time you refuse, you receive the blood-curdling punishment of a thousand tickles under the wrath of Cal Kestis.

You retaliate, you know his weak spots too; and he stumbles to the ground with you. The little brawl eventually ended up in a deadlock with both of you on the floor.

Cal proposed a truce with you and you caved. You helped him stand up; when you gave a quick, strong pull of your arm, he landed a quick peck on your lips to seal the deal and strode out of the quarters.

“Wow, I love that sucker,” you told yourself as you slung your bag over your shoulder.

BD-1 chirped happily and you giggled. He was teasing you with your swooning. You took BD-1 into your arms and went out of the quarters to join with everybody else.

Greez and Cere were checking the damage on the ship, the captain assessed on what parts the ship needs and all of you were guessing how much all of the required parts are going to cost. None of you have any prior knowledge to Tatooine; not even Cere, Greez contributed very little information about this planet except describing it as a backwater planet and a perfect hideaway for fugitives. The youngsters—you, Cal, and Merrin—absolutely have nothing in your minds about this arid place until now.

“It’s a planet far out of the reaches of the Republic, lawlessness _is_ their law,” Cere deduced.

“We’ll be careful,” you softly say.

“We’ll split up. We’ll cover more ground that way and maybe we’ll have our luck scattered here, keep your comlinks open,” before she could mention her last condition, she raised her finger at the three of you. “And my cardinal rule when in unfriendly planets: stay alive.”

“Yes, Cere,” the three of you youngsters say in chorus, almost as if she was your mother—which doesn’t seem too far-fetched, she is always looking out for you all this time. 

Greez stepped in, his second pair of arms on his waist while the first pair were raised in mid-air as if surrendering to something.

“Look, I can’t believe I’m saying this but since we’re splittin’ up with the kids, Cere, I think I’d like to have the Nightsister with us—you know, just in case some mooks try to do something funny on us,”

“Warming up to Merrin, are we now, Greez?” Cal teased.

“Look! I’m saying that if blasters don’t work, and since the only two Jedi are together, magick is my best bet here!” Greez defended.

“It’s okay, Greez, I got your back,” Merrin sincerely said, although you noted the teasing tone she uses to freak Greez out.

Now that it’s settled, the crew trekked through the barren outskirts and split up the moment that you’ve reached the road to the town.


	2. Chapter 2

You got a glimpse of the noisy town before you. It was charming in its own sort of way, but the words mixing in with the white noise and sounds—albeit foreign—was a bit of a culture shock to you. You looked around: sketchy bums lounging around in open-spaced eateries, rude locals who would badmouth you in their native tongue just because you barely brushed shoulders, and the pungence of cooked meat that shouldn’t be cooked in the first place.

“Charming,” Cal sarcastically commented.

“I don’t know about this, Cal,” you muttered within his earshot.

He sensed your anxiety. It was too loud—in your mind, from your body language, and from the way you spoke. He noticed how your eyes shift left and right, observing everything around you in case someone tries to tell on you. Cal knows you’re worried there might be snitches to the Empire and expose your whereabouts.

“It’s going to be fine, [y/n],” he comforted you.

You nodded. When you have gotten far enough into the town, you tried your best not to draw any attention; unfortunately, your poncho was the one that had no hood, much to your misfortune. Both of you presumed that you have reached the marketplace area as the stalls become more evident and the hollering has gotten louder.

While vendors verbally advertised their merchandise to any passerby they see within their three-foot radius, Cal sensed their piercing gazes on you specifically, especially the male vendors. Stopping at one of the stalls that had racks of ship parts on display, the owner—a yellow Rodian—tried to keep you longer in his stall as he blabbered away about how rare his parts are and how you’re not going to get it anywhere else on the planet.

As you intently inspected the parts yourself, you ignored the creepy groaning that he was doing in front of you. For every merchandise of his that you touch, he always has something to say about it. You eyed an external engine that exactly matches the one the Mantis has and needs, it was sitting on the carpet along with his other wares.

“How much for this one?” you point your finger at the part.

Luckily for you and Cal, he can speak in the common tongue but his voice was rather croaky.

“Ahh, you have a sharp eye for machinery, my desert flower,” he cooed in a sad attempt to be charming.

“How. Much?” You hissed, not buying any of his good vendor bull and he seemed disappointed that you didn’t buy into his acting.

“I sell that for 25000, no less! Is state-of-art!”

Your eyes widened both in a mix of sarcasm and disbelief. Twenty-five thousand for an external engine replacement that has probably seen just as enough action as the Mantis?

“I can see why no one has bought it. I’ll give 15000 for it,”

He fights back. He’s not letting you take it after marking it down that much. You insist that you don’t have his asking price.

“Well, I’m sure we can figure something out for it,” his tone changed and neither you nor Cal liked it.

He crossed the line when he was slowly extending his slimy green digits towards you, wiggling them as if casting a spell or trying to hypnotizing you. Before the Rodian could speak any more, Cal bolts in and sharply flicks away the merchant’s hand away from you, he puts his arm around you and immediately tugs you gently away.

“Getting a little _too_ friendly with the sales talk, are we?” Cal sternly cuts in, imposing an intimidating demeanor to the vendor. “I think we’ve made up our mind here.”

Cal immediately took you far enough from the stall.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you huffed, a little shaken but mostly irritated.

“Come on, we can find better ones than that slug,”

Eventually, you entered a shack that had their wares dumped outside of the building. Cal noticed that these weren’t just junk dumped out to rot under the sun, these were bait for onlookers to enter the store.

“A good foot traffic strategy too,” you commented.

“Then let’s hope their stuff is as good as the ones they throw out for bait,”

Upon entering the shack, it was built like a stone house but it was refurbished to a full-fledged warehouse. The ceiling was strewn with hanging pipes and rods, the walls were covered with racks and shelves—when you went to take a closer look, you notice that the items were neatly sorted according to what kind of parts they were—and even the counter itself was filled with miniature drawers filled with small tools.

Cal opened one of the drawers and checked for tools, BD-1 looked around and saw a few exoskeletons of different droid types which may have spooked the poor little guy.

“Hello?” you called loud enough for anyone around the house to hear.

Your voice was heard by the proprietor of the store. A fat man appeared, waddling his way to the front counter where you stood by waiting. In your mind, you thanked it was a human but you were immediately taken over by worry that he’s not as kind as you hope him to be once you negotiate.

“What can I get for ya, kiddo?” He spoke in a pace so quick that you could practically write down his words with no spaces between them.

“Uhh, we need a replacement external engine for our freighter,”

“Got yourselves fried before landing here in this big ol’ sandbox, eh?”

“Yeah, bumpy ride,”

He grunted in agreement. He looked over your shoulder and called out on Cal when he spotted him checking out some power tools.

“Oy, pretty boy, you break ‘em you buy ‘em!”

“Sorry, I was just looking around,”

“He’s with me,” you cut in.

The proprietor shoots a look at you then moved his eyes to Cal, “Heh, no surprise. Both of youse pretty-lookin’. Keep your boyfriend close to ya so he doesn’t break my good stuff.”

The owner then gestures you to follow him to the back where he keeps all the big parts in store. You wait for him to stomp ahead because you’re going to beat the old coot to it in ten steps. Cal walked up to your side and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Boyfriend, huh? Has a nice ring to it,” he shrugged coyly.

“You do realize we’ve been together for months now, right?”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” he nodded, then shrugged.

You exhaled through your nose in the guise of a chuckle, you smile at him, and tap him gingerly on the chest, “Yes, Cal, you’re my boyfriend.”

“And a darn good one, too,” he added as he kissed you on the cheek and pinched your chin.

You were taken aback by his sudden display of confidence that you stood there for a few seconds watching him walk away, ahead of you in following the store owner. BD-1 was standing on the counter and was looking at you.

“What a goof, am I right?”

BD-1 beeped agreeably so.

“And a goddamn adorable one at that,” you muttered particularly to no one, concealing a smile in a lip bite.

You picked up BD-1 and caught up to Cal and perched BD-1 on his shoulders while you follow the proprietor.


	3. Chapter 3

The proprietor introduced you to his—as he called it—”backyard,” where almost all of the same parts that you saw in the marketplace stalls were there except that this one store owner kept his goods mint.

That explains the neat sorting. You thought to yourself as little droids, reprogrammed from their manufacturing settings, walk around carrying and lifting parts in and out of the store.

“Now see here, I don’t mean to brag or anythin’ but here in Mos Espa, I _am_ the biggest _and_ best stock of wares. Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself: I’m Devric Plike, call me Dev,” he approached you two to shake his hand just to finish up the formalities.

“Cal, and this here is my girlfriend, [y/n],”

You blushed, thankfully you can falsely blame the sunlight for that. You smiled as you shook Devric’s hand.

“Please to meet you youngins. You look like a good, honest girl. You got lucky, boy,” Devric leaned a bit closer and spoke in a loud whisper. “ _Don’t lose her._ ”

Devric didn’t expect a reply and went ahead.

But Cal subtly slid his fingers through the spaces of your fingers and clutched your hand quite firmly, “Oh I won’t, that’s for sure.”

You look and see that adorable smug face again, you scoffed and rolled your eyes, and followed Dev around the backyard. He was, thankfully, a fair negotiator. A charitable one too. He advertised a certain engine to you that he boasted to be cross-compatible.

When asked, Dev explained that whilst he made up the word for it, it simply means that a cross-compatible part could be used by at least two or three types of ships—for instance, one part can be fitted into either a freighter or a fighter. Cal then filled you in that it’s not a thing of the past, it’s just an uncommon practice for most ship technicians but it usually works 90% of the time.

“What happens to the 10% of the time?”

“Uh… boom?” Cal accompanied his answer with a little demonstration with his fingers splaying out when he said “boom.”

“If and only if the wrong part was outfitted into the ship, right? Typical technical error?”

“Ding-ding-ding,”

You asked BD-1 to scan the part to see if it would fit in the Mantis.

After scanning, BD-1 continuously beeped in a high-pitched and melodic tone, meaning that his scanners on the external engine say that it’s all good; Cal checked it himself and vouched for the mint condition of the external engine. Before sealing any transactions, you contacted Cere via your comlink saying that you found the part that Greez needs.

“How much?” You were almost too afraid to ask the question to Devric.

“Well, for the mint S-251 engine coupling, I’d say…” he tilts his head up to think then jerks it back down to your eye level. “How does 10,000 sound?”

You felt your heart go loose after holding your breath. You exhaled in relief. You asked permission from Cere via the comlink, there was a few seconds worth of silence from her end before she gave her reply.

“Go ahead and take it, you saved Greez from overspending. Seal the deal there,” Cere instructed and ended the call.

You gave the go signal, Devric ordered his protocol droid to get a cart. A team of DUM-series pit droids lifted the engine to the cart and the protocol droid hauled it back inside.

“I will have it ready to go in a cargo speeder in an hour,”

You politely stepped in between the two gentlemen’s conversation and tapped Cal on the arm. You fished out the pouch of credits from your pocket and held it to Cal.

“Can you handle this for a bit, Cal? I’m going to take a look around, if that’s okay,”

“Sure,” he said and took the pouch.

Devric glanced over Cal’s shoulder. The store owner watched you look around, check out some of his wares, and lift BD-1 to the higher shelves so he could check out stuff too.

“You got a really sweet girl there, boy,” he commented.

“Huh?”

He nodded at you and repeated himself.

“Yeah,” Cal smiled while counting the credits. “She is. She really is…”

“She’s got a certain oomph about her. I saw the way you look at her too—the fire in your eyes—and that shine in her eyes? Oh, kid, buddy, I don’t know who is lucky is to have whom!”

“Both of us to each other, I guess. But I’d like to think I’m _luckier_ to have her,”

“You do look it, kid. The eyes never lie,” Devric chuckled.

As soon as Cal handed over the correct amount of credits, Devric hollered at the DUM droids again to start the preparations for the transfer. The little droids scamper and squeak around as they did their task. You came back to the counter by Cal’s side and watched the DUM droids cover up the external engine with a large piece of cloth.

You gave your thanks to Devric and he gratefully welcomes it.

“Alright, see you in an hour,” Devric said as you walked out of his store.

You realized you had a lot of time to kill. Cal suggested going for a drink and you agreed, you looked for the nearest cantina. A few yards away from Devric’s shop, loud music is coming from a certain direction, you immediately knew it was a cantina.

Both of you walk in and find yourselves in a cesspit of all kinds of scum. The place reeked with whatever the patrons were smoking at the bar. Every corner you look, it’s filled with diverse clusters of species with some humans mingling in the scene.

“Well, this is… inclusive,” you commented.

“Lively,”

Both of you stepped in, heading for the bar. You kept your vision narrow, ignoring anyone or anything in your periphery. A single look could mean another thing to another species; but you sensed the humans looking at both of you strangely.

“Are they looking at me or you?” You mumbled within Cal’s earshot.

“I don’t wanna know,”

“Me too,”

Due to the dense crowd, none of you could find a seat that could fit you both; you volunteered to get the drinks while Cal volunteered to finding seats in the meantime. One seat was open by the bar, you tug the bartender by the sleeve.

“Something mild, two of that,” you ordered.

He gave a quick nod at you and started working on your drinks as he was doing nothing else but wiping empty glasses. As you wait for the drinks, you sneak some quick glances at the patrons beside you—Twi’leks on your left, a Devaronian and Aqualish conversing on your right.

You did not flinch when a human male suddenly bursts in on your right-side periphery. He had a companion who took on your left, it was a green Rodian. Neither were drunk, but the human reeked of liquor as if he bathed in it.

“Well, look what we have here: it’s a desert flower,” he uttered throatily. “What’s a pretty flower like you doing ‘ere?”

You blatantly ignored him. The bartender handed over your two drinks right on time. You fiddled with the glass by tapping your fingernails on it.

“Ohh, two. I think the little flower brought her friend eh, ya think?”

The Rodian spoke in its native language but you could assume he agreed in the same perverse way as his human friend.

“Who’s the friend, sweetums? Care to introduce us, hmm?”

Cal abruptly steps in, kept his eye on the human male and sneered at him, “This guy bothering you?”

“Oh piss off!” the stranger hissed.

You turn to Cal, smiled at him as you hand him his glass. Both of you drink at the same time, maintaining eye contact—communicating something entirely secret from everyone else.

When you finished your drink, you hissed cockily, “Actually, _you_ should piss off,”

“Aww come now, don’t be so sour with me, flower,” the stranger persisted.

The stranger has overstayed his welcome in your personal space, his overall presence and his bothering you ticked Cal off. The drunk just crossed two lines at the same time.

You initiated the first strike. You severed the poor sob’s hand, the Rodian—who was on Cal’s left—grabbed him from the shoulders but Cal ignited his hilt in an overhead strike position to cut both hands.

The musicians and the chattering patrons all shut up—this must be the cantina’s first time to go quiet, excluding the agonizing moans of the two strangers whom you just mutilated. You switched off your lightsaber, fished out three credits from your pocket and slapped it on the bar in front of the bartender as compensation for the mess.

You and Cal left the cantina, walked far away from it and towards the direction of Devric’s shack.

“Got there in time, huh?”

“Yeah, you’re right…” you chuckled weakly but you had your head bowed.

“Hey,” Cal propped his fingers under your chin and gently tilted your head so you could see eye-to-eye. He wasn’t begging or anything, but he pulled up those soft, puppy eyes that you can’t help but give in to. “I know that face.”

“Okay, I was startled from that drunk earlier, got scared for a second there. But I’m okay now, Cal,” you said, putting up a brave face. “I promise.”

“Okay, promise,” Cal sighed, pulled you in for a hug and planted a kiss on your forehead. “That was an impressive move, by the way.”

The two of you decided to spend the remainder of the hour at the front of Devric’s shop, watching over the part and how the droids handled the prepping while you shared with Cal some sweet bread you bought from an old couple’s stall nearby.


End file.
